USDA's weekly Crop Progress Report shows that nation-wide, the US Corn crop now stands at 68% good to excellent- up one point from last week. Soybeans dropped a point this week to 67% good to excellent- Cotton fell four points this week to 49% good to excellent and sorghum dropped five points to 55% good to excellent.



Oklahoma's spring-planted crop conditions are pretty good. Corn conditions rated 67 percent good to excellent. Soybean conditions rated 59 percent good to excellent. Cotton conditions rated 53 percent good to excellent, and Sorghum conditions rated 67 percent good to excellent.

Kansas's conditions are a bit better with soybeans rated at 62 percent good to excellent. Cotton conditions rated 67 percent good to excellent. and Sorghum conditions rated 49 percent good to excellent.

Texas's spring-planted crop conditions have declined since last week with Corn conditions down to 43 percent good to excellent from last week's 50 percent. Cotton conditions are down to 40 percent good to excellent from last week's 46 percent rating. Sorghum conditions fell to a 57 percent good to excellent rating from last week's 63 percent. Soybean conditions fell fell to a 26 percent good to excellent rating from last week's 32 percent good to excellent rating.

Pasture and Range Conditions for the 48 states are down one point from last week at 39 percent good to excellent. Oklahoma has declined 6 points this week to 50% good to excellent- Kansas dropped 1 point to 51% good to excellent - Texas is unchanged at 30% good to excellent while Missouri declined 5 points to a 85% good to excellent rating.

The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community, and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. 

To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes. 

And Check out this video below that helps you learn more about the Beef Checkoff- 

At the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with the Executive Director of Nutrition Research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Dr. Shalene McNeill, about merging nutrition research and sustainability science.

Coverage from the 2024 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.

“It is easy for us, even as scientists, to live in our bubbles,” Dr. McNeill said. “Sometimes in Nutrition Science, we see that scientists do their research, but they lose sight of the rest of the topics surrounding a healthy sustainable diet.”

 She went on to explain that many leading experts in protein research were being asked how their area of study impacts the environment, which led to nutritionists asking how they can become more informed about the entire beef production system.

Dr. Derrell Peel: Beef Markets Reflect Excess Fat and a Shortage of Lean

Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Peel and Mark Johnson. Today, Dr. Peel talks about excess fat reflected in beef markets.

Choice boxed beef price has decreased by 5.4 percent since July 4 to a current level of about $312.50/cwt., 3.4 percent higher year over year. The decline in boxed beef price is seasonal during the hottest part of the summer. Boxed beef prices are a composite based on about 50 wholesale beef cuts and subprimals. There are some interesting things going on within this set of products this year that reflect the unusual environment in today’s cattle and beef markets. 

Middle meats are the biggest driver total beef value. Beef tenderloin is the highest value beef cut and the price has been quite flat and lower year over year for much of 2024. This weakness is a bit concerning but the fall may provide an important indicator of tenderloin demand going into cooler weather and the seasonal pick up in restaurant traffic. In contrast, the other steak cuts have values that are generally at or above year ago levels, including ribeye, strip loin, and top sirloin. Overall, rib primals are priced about 3.4 percent higher year over year and loin primals are averaging 1.4 percent lower this year. Middle meats from the rib and loin primals are the heart of boxed beef values.

At the NAFB Summer Agribusiness Dinner at the Danforth Plant Science Center, Farm Director KC Sheperd spoke with Danforth Center Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Karla Roeber about the center, itself.

The center, in Olivette, Missouri, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) independent plant research institute. “We do basic research about how to make plants yield more with less impact on the environment,” Roeber explained. “Dr. Danforth, our founder, knew that the most important way to help farmers increase a sustainable food supply was to get the technology from the laboratory out into the field.”

To do that, the Danforth Center hires entrepreneurial scientists who focus on the goal that Roeber outlined above, and in the process, they create new companies and jobs in their regions.

The Danforth Center greenhouses, each composed of about 50,000 square feet of usable area, are not only used by in-house researchers, but are also made available to local companies for their own research and development. “This helps early-stage startups to have high-quality, research-grade greenhouses to do their proof of concepts so they can take that data to the venture capitalists and say, ‘I had this done at the world’s largest plant science institute.’ So, they can raise money to continue to grow their businesses to bring products to the field.”

In 2020, as Oklahoma State University wheat geneticist Brett Carver prepared to release the OSU Wheat Improvement Team’s latest variety, he had a creative idea for its official name.

It was the first summer of the pandemic, and the Olympic games in Tokyo had been postponed. When an article in The Oklahoman about James Butler, a former OSU track and field star and 1980 Olympic hopeful, caught Carver’s eye, he branded the wheat variety Butler’s Gold.

Four years later, the Olympic games in Paris are underway, and Butler is reflecting on how his namesake in OSU Agriculture is golden redemption for the Olympic start he never made.

“When I hear the name Butler’s Gold, it always makes me smile,” he said. “It was such an honor when Brett reached out to me. It’s special, and it feels good to know someone wants to recognize my efforts 40-plus years later.”

Wade Brorsen, a regents professor in the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics, is the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Graduate Student Advising and Mentoring Award. He was recognized at the annual Ferguson College of Agriculture Scholarships and Awards Banquet in April.

Since joining the agricultural economics faculty in 1991, Brorsen has advised 36 doctoral students and more than 20 master’s students. He has served on dozens of dissertation and thesis committees.

Brorsen has coauthored 230 articles with 97 graduate students and also developed 217 paper and poster presentations with graduate students at professional meetings. Cheryl DeVuyst, agricultural economics department head, said Brorsen’s mark of success as a graduate student advisor is that all his master’s and doctoral students have published at least one research article in an academic journal.

“Dr. Brorsen has spent his career working with graduate students, challenging them to constantly reach for higher quality and to give careful attention to research relevance, communication and methodological support,” DeVuyst said. “His advising and mentoring have made us better and have also strengthened the discipline of agricultural economics around the globe.”